The ACLU of Utah operates through public education, legal advocacy, litigation, and lobbying at both the state and local levels to ensure the constitutional rights and freedoms of everyone living in or visiting Utah. Our work is based on those principals outlined in the Bill of Rights.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

This week, the ACLU of Utah is proud to be hosting Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director of the ACLU and former director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. We invited Mr. Jaffer to Salt Lake City to encourage reflection and provide a critical civil liberties progress report following the recently-obsevred ten-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

On Saturday, October 29th Jameel Jaffer will present “Our New Normal: National Security, Civil Liberties and Human Rights 10 Years After September 11 that 6:30pm at the Khadeeja Islamic Center, 1019 West 2455 South, in West Valley City. This event is free and open to the public; Modest dress is strongly encouraged, out of respect for our hosts at the Khadeeja mosque. (LINK TO MAP HERE)

Our country has done a lot of healing since the tragic events of 9/11, but we are far from where we were, in terms of our individual liberties and civil rights, before that devastating day. Unfortunately, many Americans have suffered injustices, large and small, as a direct result of U.S. policies and actions following the attacks. What once might have been unimaginable infringements upon the human rights of American citizens, on American soil, now have become our “new normal.” Extrajudicial Killings. Torture. Racial Profiling and Mapping. Unwarranted surveillance. Islamaphobia. These violations of fundamental civil liberties have all become, somehow, acceptable – or, at least, hardly shocking – in our post-9/11 culture.

Just 45 days after 9/11, the U.S. Congress passed The PATRIOT Act , a bill that would prove to seriously undermine the constitutional rights of thousands. Parts of the act were supposed to expire in 2005, but regularly have been extended by Congress, until at least 2015. Ostensibly created and authorized in order to aid the U.S. government in its fight against terrorist extremism across the globe, the Act became a powerful vehicle for the undermining of the rights of thousands of U.S. citizens and non-citizens.. Check out the ACLU’s Post-9/11 Surveillance Timeline to recall specific policies that have been enforced against the American people in the past decade.

Last week, in anticipation of Jameel Jaffer’s visit, the ACLU of Utah screened Laura Poitras’ film “The Oath”, in Ogden and in Orem at Utah Valley University. The documentary centers on Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni citizen and former driver for Osama Bin Laden, and his brother-in-law, Abu Jandal, a former member of Al Qaeda and bin Laden bodyguard. Hamdan ended up in the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – which is still open and operating in 2011, and “home” to approximately 170 detainees.

Over the course of two years, Laura Poitras traveled back and forth to Yemen to collect footage and interviews for “The Oath.” Ms. Poitras, who had been on the government’s “terrorist watch list” since the filming of her Iraq-based documentary “My Country, My Country,” was routinely interrogated regarding her frequent travels to Yemen. She finally ended up on the FBI’s “No Fly” list, and it took several calls to her attorneys and the ACLU before she was allowed to board her flight to attend an international film festival.

In fact, it through her experience as a target of the U.S. government’s “War on Terror” policies that Ms. Poitras met and become friends with the ACLU’s Jameel Jaffer, who has been fighting to turn a national and international spotlight on those very policies since their initial enactment.

During his visit to Salt Lake, Mr. Jaffer will be delving further into these problematic post-9/11 U.S. policies and practices.

On Thursday, October 27, Mr. Jaffer will address the public, free of charge, on the campus of the University of Utah. His presentation, which will be held in Dumke Auditorium in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, beginning at 10:45 a.m. and concluding at noon, is entitled, “What is the War on Terror…and Are We Still Fighting It?” In this talk, Mr. Jaffer will addressing such issues as extrajudicial killings, extraordinary rendition and indefinite detention.

On Saturday, October 29th, Mr. Jaffer will present “Our New Normal: National Security, Civil Liberties and Human Rights 10 Years After 9/11” at the Khadeeja Islamic Center. This event is presented in partnership with the Islamic Society of Greater Salt Lake, and is free and open to the general public. There will be ample time for questions and discussion, and we strongly encourage you to take advantage of Mr. Jaffer’s prodigious knowledge, experience and expertise during his stay in Salt Lake.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Posted 10/24/11 - News reports and video’s posted on Youtube have brought to the ACLU of Utah’s attention that on Thursday, October 20, 2011, officers from the Roosevelt Police Department used pepper spray and batons on a group of people performing a Haka Dance at the conclusion of the Roosevelt High School football game.

According to published news reports, the Roosevelt Police Department is conducting an investigation into the incident. The ACLU of Utah is deeply troubled by the images and accounts of the incident, and we have written to the Roosevelt Police Department requesting that we are sent a copy of any report that results from that investigation.

In our letter we expressed our hope that the Police Department will conduct “a fair, comprehensive, and unbiased investigation into this matter, that to the extent that your report reveals wrongdoing, those who are deemed to have used excessive and unwarranted force are held accountable, and that training will be provided to your force to ensure that another incident like this is never repeated."

Accordingly, we encourage anyone with information regarding the incident to report it to the Police Department, so that they have an opportunity to assess the information and respond appropriately. At the same time, we encourage those with first hand knowledge of the incident to share that information with us, so that we can adequately monitor the situation as well. Our online law enforcement complaint form can be filled out here >>

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Occupy Salt Lake City began on Thursday, October 6, with a march from the State Capitol through downtown to Pioneer Park where a tent encampment was set up and continues today.

The ACLU of Utah has been communicating with the SLCPD as well as the City of Salt Lake to ensure that Occupy SLC's peaceful assembly at, and occupation of Pioneer Park, will continue without government infringement. So far the City has been issuing 24 hour permits, granting the demonstrators the right to peacefully occupy the Park. The City has confirmed to the ACLU of Utah that the protestors’ permits to occupy Pioneer Park will continue to be renewed on a daily basis so long as the movement remains nonviolent.

The ACLU of Utah is thrilled about the commonsense cooperative approach the City and the Police Department have taken with respect to Occupy SLC to date, and we are hopeful this approach will continue over the duration of the occupancy. However, should the dynamic change, the ACLU of Utah will be ready. As a precaution, we have coordinated with the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Layers (UACDL) to develop a list of its members who have volunteered their services (or in some cases offered their services at a reduced fee) to those arrested or charged with crimes as a result of their participation in the occupancy. The ACLU of Utah is very grateful to those members of the UACDL for their generous offer and their preparedness, and also appreciative of the UACDL's efforts to develop such a great list of attorneys.

Finally, we are also very excited to announce the first-ever ACLU of Utah Free Speech Hotline. This hotline will accept calls 24 hours a day, over the duration of the occupancy, so any potential First Amendment violations that may arise can be documented. Opening this line will help the ACLU of Utah to monitor the situation and evaluate how we can best be of assistance. Accordingly, if you experience or observe a violation of First Amendment rights, please report the incident to (801) 893-2198 or aclu@acluutah.org. With any luck there will be no Constitutional violations to report.

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The ACLU of Utah, chartered in 1958, operates through public education, legal advocacy, litigation, and lobbying at both the state and local levels to ensure the constitutional rights and freedoms of everyone living in or visiting Utah. Our work is based on those principals outlined in the Bill of Rights and our priorities include: Participatory Democracy; Racial Justice; Immigrants’ Rights; Religious Liberty & Freedom of Belief; and Privacy & Technology. In addition, we continue our commitment to reform the Utah criminal justice system, protect the First Amendment, reproductive freedoms, and equality for all.